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HomeIllustrations

9,055 Illustrations

Browse Sermon Illustrations

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Sermon Illustration

When Love Broke Through on a Slave Ship

In 1748, a violent storm nearly sank a slave trading vessel off the coast of Ireland. John Newton, the ship's mate, was a profane man...

Universallove

247 words

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Sermon Illustration

The Hardest Promise Jackie Robinson Ever Kept

In August 1945, Branch Rickey sat across from Jackie Robinson in the Dodgers' office in Brooklyn and made an extraordinary demand. Rickey wasn't just looking...

Universalobedience

258 words

Sermon Illustration

The Song That Almost Never Was

In 1779, John Newton published the hymn we know as *Amazing Grace*, but the story behind it reveals something profound about humility. Newton had spent...

Universalhumility

240 words

Sermon Illustration

The Scaffolding Around St. Paul's

When Sir Christopher Wren began rebuilding St. Paul's Cathedral after the Great Fire of London in 1666, the old cathedral had been one of the...

Haggai 1:15b-2:9Universal

238 words

Sermon Illustration

The Father Who Ran

At the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, British sprinter Derek Redmond was considered a medal contender in the 400-meter semifinal. He had spent years clawing back from...

Universalidentity

245 words

Sermon Illustration

The Promise Kept in Room 4B

In 2019, a seven-year-old girl named Eliana sat in a hospital room at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, coloring pictures of houses she...

Jeremiah 33:14-16Universal

244 words

Sermon Illustration

When the Marrow Must Die First

In a bone marrow transplant, the most terrifying step comes before the healing begins. Oncologists call it conditioning — rounds of chemotherapy or total body...

Universaltrust

245 words

Sermon Illustration

Wilberforce and the Long Faithfulness

For twenty years, William Wilberforce watched slave traders grow rich. Ship owners in Liverpool built grand estates. Sugar merchants in Bristol threw lavish parties. Members...

Psalm 37:1-11, 39-40Universal

227 words

Sermon Illustration

One Voice at Herrnhut

In 1727, Count Nikolaus von Zinzendorf faced an impossible situation on his estate in Saxony. He had offered refuge to persecuted Christians from across Europe...

Romans 15:4-13Universal

239 words

Sermon Illustration

Singing in the Dark

In 2010, thirty-three Chilean miners were trapped 2,300 feet underground in the San José copper mine near Copiapó. For seventeen days, the world didn't even...

Acts 16:16-34Universal

244 words

Sermon Illustration

The Signal Delay

When NASA's Perseverance rover descended toward Mars on February 18, 2021, engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory faced a harrowing reality: an eleven-minute signal delay....

Universalfaith

249 words

Sermon Illustration

The Colonist Who Finally Saw

In 1514, a Spanish colonist named Bartolomé de las Casas stood in his church in Cuba preparing a Pentecost sermon when a passage from Sirach...

Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14Universal

240 words

Sermon Illustration

The Engine That Never Turned Over

Every autumn in Rochester, Minnesota, old Mr. Halverson would spend three weekends detailing his 1967 Chevrolet Camaro. He buffed the cherry-red paint until it gleamed....

James 2:17Universal

227 words

Sermon Illustration

The Light Makers of the Deep

In the deepest waters of the ocean, below a thousand meters, sunlight cannot reach. The pressure is immense. The cold is unrelenting. By every reasonable...

Universalcourage

239 words

Sermon Illustration

When the Melody Requires Everything

In 1779, a former slave trader sat down to write a hymn for his small parish in Olney, England. John Newton had spent years hauling...

Universalcourage

251 words

Sermon Illustration

Finished Together

In the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, British sprinter Derek Redmond lined up for the 400-meter semi-final. He had spent four years recovering from injuries, and this...

Universalidentity

252 words

Sermon Illustration

Methuselah's Promise

In 2005, botanist Dr. Elaine Solowey of Israel's Arava Institute planted a seed unlike any other. Recovered from excavations at the ancient fortress of Masada...

Universalhope

244 words

Sermon Illustration

The Retired Firefighter and the Sound of His Own Name

For thirty-one years, Captain Ray Muñoz slept with one ear open at Station 14 in San Antonio. He could distinguish the pitch of a smoke...

1 Samuel 3:1-10Universal

264 words

Sermon Illustration

The Document That Changed Everything

For decades before the American Civil War, brave conductors on the Underground Railroad risked their lives to shuttle enslaved people northward, one family at a...

Hebrews 9:11-15Universal

240 words

Sermon Illustration

The Song a Slave Trader Gave the World

John Newton knew what he was. By his own account, he was profane, rebellious, and cruel — a man who trafficked in human lives aboard...

Universalforgiveness

266 words

Sermon Illustration

When Environmental Stewardship Meets Real Life

In the heart of California, nestled among vibrant vineyards and the whispering winds of the Pacific, there lies a church that is not just a sanctuary of worship but a beacon of hope in the face of climate change. This...

Revelation 11:18Traditional

277 words

Sermon Illustration

The Stone That Couldn't Stay Put

On January 12, 2010, a 7.0 earthquake leveled Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Concrete buildings pancaked. Rubble buried entire neighborhoods. Rescue teams told families the math was brutal...

Matthew 28:1-10Universal

228 words

Sermon Illustration

The Race That Wasn't Over

In the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, British sprinter Derek Redmond lined up for the 400-meter semifinal as one of the favorites. He had trained for years,...

Universalhope

238 words

Sermon Illustration

Four Years on His Back

When Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in 1508, the artist resisted. He considered himself a sculptor, not...

Universalobedience

245 words